New Zealand v England: Matt Prior insists tourists' position in decisive Test is 'not the end of the world'

Photographs adorn Eden Park reminding fans of its rich rugby history and even
though England believe it was not “the end of the world’ after second poor
batting performance of the series, losing this Test would be the equivalent
of the mighty All Blacks being beaten by Scotland.

Hope springs: Matt prior hasn't given up on England winning the final Test against New Zealand despite odds stacked against themPhoto: REUTERS

New Zealanders will consider it heresy to rank this England team, with all its inconsistencies, alongside the All Blacks but such was the deficit between these two sides at the start of the series, a win for Brendon McCullum’s young team would feel like a giantkilling, even if the biggest scalp of them all, Kevin Pietersen, is missing.

Just how long England will be without Pietersen will become a little clearer today when he has a scan on his right knee. He will see a specialist tomorrow when he will learn if he needs surgery on a cartilage problem which has kept him out of the Indian Premier League season. His absence has thrust Jonny Bairstow into action without any first-class cricket since the Mumbai Test in November but Matt Prior denied the hole left behind by Pietersen was to blame for another batting collapse.

“Kev is a big player and any team who loses him will miss him but we have every faith in the 11 going out to represent England,” said Prior. “It is up to us 11 to perform well for the rest of this Test match. We came in with a plan and what you saw was not the plan. We did not bat well but New Zealand bowled a good length. But to have them three for 30 was a fantastic effort. Our bowlers came out again after spending a lot of time out in the field in and fought hard. We are going to need a bit of luck and skill now.”

A first innings lead of 239 for New Zealand follows the 293 they built in Dunedin two weeks ago but then there was time left in the series for England to recover. Now they only have one more chance with the bat to avoid defeat to a team ranked eighth in the world and without a series win against opposition other than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe since 2006.

“I know it feels like the world is over but it is not,” said Prior. “We still have a lot of cricket to play and we have very good cricketers who can put in match-winning and match-saving performances.

“There was no obvious reason for our batting. We have prepared exactly the same, the guys have looked in good nick. It is not like everyone feels like a walking wicket. We have had a couple of bad days and it is something we need to address. We will get another chance in the second innings. That in a funny way is a good thing. We get straight back out there and we will have to put in good performances again. What I love about this team is we might do it the hard way but we fight and keep fighting. Look at Dunedin. The way Compo and Cook led us [in the second innings] and Nagpur when we batted all that time to draw the game and win in India. These things are memories we will pull on and use. We know we have the skill and the ability to get something out of this game still.”

Prior looked as if he was drawing on the spirit of past fightbacks as he partnered Joe Root for nearly three hours before falling just before the second a new ball, timing he described as “horrendous.”

He added: “To go in there in that situation and have the belief and ability to hang around for that amount of time when NZ were on top and pretty chatty was brilliant from Joe. He took it all in his stride and showed an awesome amount of temperament to get us into a comeback position.”

Boult’s six for 68 did not contain the good fortune of Steven Finn’s six wicket haul the previous day. He is a left-armer who models himself on his hero Wasim Akram. He has a whippy action and shown he will be dangerous in early English summer conditions when the return series starts in May.

He bowled a full length and found just enough swing which eluded England on the first two days. The subject of swing bowling is one of cricket’s great debates and neither Prior nor Boult could explain why it worked for one team and not the other yesterday.

It emerged yesterday that Daniel Vettori, who has missed this series with an achilles injury, is unlikely to be fit for the two Tests in England giving Bruce Martin a further opportunity to build a Test career after waiting 13 years for his debut.